This specification relates generally to search systems.
Many search systems allow users to enter search queries for businesses and places of interest through a search interface. In response to a received search query, the search systems identify business entities or places of interest that are relevant to the search criteria specified in the search query, and present search results referring to these relevant business entities or places of interest with their associated physical addresses. Some search systems also present the search results in a ranked order. Each search result may be presented on a user's device in one or more of a variety of forms, e.g., a textual form, an image, or a visual marker on a map.
A user of a location search service sometimes wishes to find a business or a government unit that, for the user's purpose, has functionally equivalent sites at multiple distinct geographic locations. For example, member stores of a business chain or business franchise typically offer roughly equivalent goods and/or services, and can be functional equivalents of one another for serving the user's particular purchase or service needs. Entities having multiple functionally equivalent sites are referred to herein as multi-site entities. The user can submit a search query that includes a search keyword specifying a shared name of a group of related functionally equivalent entities (i.e., a multi-site entity name), intending to locate one or more of the entities situated close to a target location. However, search results obtained based on the name specified by the search keyword sometimes refer to entities that are not true members of the group of related entities.